Veney Quits CSUN Position as Top Assistant Track Coach

Tony Veney, the top assistant men’s and women’s track and field coach and the assistant athletic director in charge of admissions at Cal State Northridge, has resigned to accept a history teaching position at Granada Hills High.

Veney, 41, has been the sprint, hurdles and jumps coach at Northridge since 1983. He has served as the assistant athletic director in charge of admissions since 1988.

“I think that my career path in the immediate future is in the classroom,” Veney said in a release from the school’s sports information office. “I also want to rest and enjoy more time with my family.”

Don Strametz, the women’s track coach at Northridge since 1981 and the men’s coach since 1986, said Veney is under doctor’s orders to reduce stress in his life.

“I was hoping that we could make it through the end of the (school) year,” Strametz said. “But it just got to the point where that wasn’t going to happen.”

Veney, who graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1976, coached Matador athletes to school records in seven events during his 11-year tenure.

Among those athletes were Kevin Hendrix, who timed 46.81 seconds in the 400 meters in 1988 and 20.87 in the 200 in 1990; Lolita Pile, who went 42 feet 3 1/2 inches in the women’s triple jump in 1990, and Derek Scurry, who spanned 26-3 1/2 in the men’s long jump in 1993.